Spending spring break in the Bahamas may seem the perfect way to relax—but if you’re an aspiring scientist, it’s the ideal chance to collect data and study unsolved ocean mysteries. Fifteen Penn State students traveled to San Salvador Island in March to collect data and conduct research as part of a geosciences course. While there, the students also led local elementary school children through an educational activity to show the importance of nearby coral reefs.

The reactions were intense. Some of the participants cried, some got angry and some stood in shocked silence. The six participants were staring at themselves, digitally aged by up to 30 years. The installation project is the work of a Penn State professor, who is using technology and art to bring the young together with the old.

In Heng Xu’s career, combining science and art has brought a new way of interpreting data to life — an innovation that might help consumers understand, follow and afford tomorrow’s fashion trends. Xu, an associate professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State, is collecting and analyzing data to gain insight into the needs, motivations and behaviors of the fashion industry, retailers and consumers.

Forgoing the opportunity to spend a week at the beach or time at home with family, several Penn State Law students spent their spring breaks in New Jersey and New York providing pro-bono legal aid. Organized by the Penn State Law Alternative Spring Break Initiative, with support from the American Bar Association, the trips were designed to help low-income clients in need of legal services while giving the students valuable hands-on legal experience.

Lexie Herdt has always been fascinated with how the weather impacts people. “I have family members who have asthma and respiratory issues, and when I was growing up, I saw a lot of family who live in the Philadelphia region affected by high ozone levels,” says Herdt.

The Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER) recently received a $150,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that will help fund activities aimed at helping Pennsylvania colleges and universities use their network infrastructure to support scientific applications and research.

Pennsylvania's large forest-products industry will be showcased during the 2015 Forest Products Equipment and Technology Exposition, June 5-6 at Penn State's Ag Progress Days site at Rock Springs. Known as Timber 2015, the biennial trade exposition is hosted by the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association. Parking and admission are free.

Honey bees use different sets of genes, regulated by two distinct mechanisms, to fight off viruses, bacteria and gut parasites, according to researchers at Penn State and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The findings may help scientists develop honey bee treatments that are tailored to specific types of infections.

Twenty-eight former doctoral students of A. Ravi Ravidran, professor in the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State, came together to host an international symposium in his honor March 12-13 at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.

The Syrian Civil War has caused millions of citizens to flee their homeland, but many refugees have persevered and are seeking to rebuild their lives. Researchers at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) recently traveled to a thriving Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, where they surveyed people as part of a study they are conducting on how the refugees are appropriating technology into their daily lives.

Many parents struggle with the age-old question of when to give their children the space to navigate their own lives and learn by trial and error, and when to take a more proactive role in guiding them to sound decisions, including the use of social media. According to researchers at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), the ideal parental mediation strategy may be a combination of both approaches –- taking some preventative measures without being too restrictive and taking reactive measures when teens put themselves at risk online.